Shipsister
Shipsister is the tenth village founded on The Land, in LY 370. It is situated on the west coast of First Land at 0° latitude and 137° west longitude. Its population as of the 905 census was 40,682 humans and 296 elves. The founding of Ship in 360 led to the founding of eight coastal villages over the next 20 years, which is the most villages that have ever been founded in such a short span of time. Most of these villages were founded on isles which were explored in the first ten years following Ship's founding. At the same time, ships explored the coast of First Land going clockwise from Ship to Sorret, but went no further until 370, at which point Jump Isle was discovered, north of Sorret. Preliminary to founding Jump Village on that isle, it was decided that a new village should be founded on the west coast of First Land, closer to Jump Isle. And so, that year Shipsister was settled, its name derived from the idea that it would be the Land's second shipbuilding village, as if it was a younger sibling to Ship. People who live in Shipsister are referred to as "Fratelli," a subword from Earth, which means "siblings." Unlike other villages where the singular form of a villager's designation is pluralized simply by adding "s," the Terran language from which Shipsister's citizens' designation is derived requires not only a different pluralizing form, but also different singular forms for male and female citizens. One male resident of Shipsister is a "Fratello" (meaning "brother"), while one female resident is a "Sorella" (meaning "sister"). Citizens of Shipsister use the plural "Fratelli" regardless of whether the group in question refers to multiple males, females, or a mix of both, though on Earth the word would refer to brothers or brothers and sisters, while "sorelle," a word not used on the Land, would refer to just sisters. There was some debate shortly after the village's founding as to how to designate its citizens; suggestions included "Sistershippers," after the designation "Shippers" for villagers from Ship, as well as "Shipsibs" (which was preferred over Sistershippers both because it was felt that their designation should at least start the same way the village's name started, and because it was felt that the designation should not make it sound like all villagers of Shipsister were female). While there is no full record of the debates, it is believed that this desire to obviate the fact that Shipsister's villagers included both males and females is at least in part what led to choosing a designation which distinguishes between the two sexes (the decision may also have been influenced by the terms used in Olek, which had been founded three years earlier). The suggestion of "Fratello, Sorella, and Fratelli" is credited to Shipsister's first bishop, Archibald. Though he later moved to Monab, he occasionally visited both Shipsister and his home village of Tonad. It is said that upon one of his return visits to Shipsister, he declared "Once a Fratello, always a Fratello." Though this story is unverified, it has become a common expression among people who have emigrated from Shipsister to other villages (also, "once a Sorella, always a Sorella"). Category:Places